Not long ago, I had the good fortune of making the acquaintance a closet therapist. No, she is not someone who does not know she is a therapist and has yet to tell the world, but rather, a therapist of another sort, one who specializes in helping you make the most of yourself IN your closet….literally.

Barbra knows a thing or two about how fashion fuses with emotions. As a child, Barbra used clothing as her armor. If she was having a bad day, her mantra was, “look better!”, and looking good was what the Horowitz family knew how to do best. Little did she know that the mantra would develop in her a liberating sense of detachment from clothes which was further stoked by her mother’s inspiring zeal for experimentation. Having a bad day? Cut the sleeves off your t-shirt. Don’t like that wool coat anymore? Throw it in the dryer and see what happens.

While Barbra does dress celebrities, she would much rather be known as “The People’s Stylist.” After eight years as a top agent in the glamorous modeling industry handling models-turned-actresses Charlize Theron, Rebecca Romijn and Shannon Elizabeth, it was Barbra’s cousin that pointed her to her true life calling. Betsy came to Barbra and said, “I feel good on the inside, now I would like to match it up on the outside. Barbra, you know that thing you do in closets? Will you help me?” From that life-changing session with her cousin, Barbra took the family secrets that she had learned from her menswear-expert father and jewelry-designer mother and turn it into a wildly successful in-home styling service called Closet Therapy.

Closet Therapy was not just therapy for the client, but a chance for Barbra to look into other people’s wardrobes and their family history. What were they attached to? Generations of family jewelry or Grandma Serene’s most treasured dresses (and what a women she must have been!). It was foreign to Barbra, who grew up stripped of material attachment to clothing. Clothing was simply something to wear, cut, rework and finally sell for the next season’s bevy of wants. And Barbra’s wants were always rooted in what was next, not what had past. She utilized this ability to see clothing far out of the box to present a vision of what her clients’ wardrobes could or should be.

Great! Barbra can help me shed the emotional baggage in my closet that takes up WAY to much space, but what this have to do with sustainable fashion? Everything. Barbra likes to say “I am not hugging trees, but there are shades of green in everything I do.” Barbra’s new book, titled Closet Control, teaches three core concepts.

• Eco-Selfish. If you look at your clothing and how to recycle, reuse and re-work it for yourself, then you realize that the answer to your emotionally-driven consumptive desires may lay in your closet and not your wallet.

• Sweaters In My Head. We associate certain garments with people or times in our lives. However, attachment to people is much more valid than attachment to material possessions. You don’t need to hold onto the garment in order to hold onto the memory. Take a picture and let it go.

• Small Space/Big Dreams- The less space we have, the less we can consume. Just because you have the home of your dreams with the closet to match doesn’t mean that you need to fill it. Have a small space and just like a vacuum, watch it fill itself.

Barbra’s approach is not green to be trendy, it is a lifelong system that has helped her with her own “sweaters in her head.” Instead of shopping, why not take a scissors to your old crew-neck which has lost resale value and indulge your inner designer once in a while?

Of course, clearing out all that space and reworking your wardrobe from the inside out will leave a few gaps, but Barbara can help you fill them. Have questions? Great! Ask away right here and Barbra will get back to you with answers.

Stay tuned for regular Q&A sessions with Barbara to learn more about her methods and how you can sustainably, affordably, make the most out of your closet.